Tag Archives: Bank of England

Bank of England warns of sharpest annual contraction since 1706 For the year as a whole, the economy is expected to contract by 14%.

This would be the biggest annual decline on record, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data dating back to 1949. It would also be the sharpest annual contraction since 1706, according to reconstructed Bank of England data stretching back to the 18th Century. By Szu Ping Chan, Business reporter, BBC News, 7 May, 2020 (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52566030 (5/7)

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Factories in US Close for Good as Coronavirus Cuts Demand Some manufacturers that furloughed employees during lockdowns say plants won’t reopen

Factory furloughs across the U.S. are becoming permanent closings, a sign of the heavy damage the coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns are exerting on the industrial economy. (Wall Street Journal, 5/11/2020)

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U.S. levels of hunger and unemployment are soaringNearly one in five young children in the U.S. are going hungry.

That’s according to a new survey of households by the Brookings Institution, which found that 17.4 percent of children were not eating enough. The level is three times as high as in 2008, during the Great Recession.

Disruptions in school meal programs during the pandemic may be part of the problem, the lead researcher said, with some families unable to reach distribution sites and older siblings at home competing for limited food. As hunger rises, Democrats in Washington are seeking to raise food stamp benefits for the duration of the economic crisis, but Republicans have balked at a long-term expansion of the program.

April’s labor report, due Friday, is expected to show that U.S. payrolls fell by 22 million, according to economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The worst monthly loss on record was nearly two million jobs in September 1945. (NY Times, 7 May 2020)

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Covid-19 is our punishment, but we need to work with doctors to fight the pandemic, says Zulu king9 May 2020, by Zimasa Matiwane, TimesLive

Zulu King Zwelithini also believes Africa had strayed from God and earned his wrath and if the people of Africa “went back to God, I am certain he will protect us.” “We must admit that we angered Jehovah, that is why he is punishing us, he is humbling us. This tells me God wants us as a nation, he wants his time with us as a nation. It’s a time where God wanted us to prepare, in connecting with him, not just to meet at churches, he wanted a one-on-one with us,” the monarch explained. King Goodwill Zwelithini addressed his subjects via Zoom on Saturday about Covid-19.

Over the weekend, hundreds of French and Luxembourgian citizens have protested the ongoing closure of German borders. On March 16, the German government unilaterally reinstated strict border controls. Since then, German police have prevented more than 100,000 citizens of several neighboring countries from entering Germany. Berlin’s measures have been causing considerable hardships also for French and Luxembourgian citizens, working in German factories and hospitals. They are also being regularly exposed to harassment by German border police and to a resurgence of old anti-French chauvinism in Germany. French commuters are increasingly being treated as “second-class EU citizens,” notes a French senator.

The former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had warned that “Germany will cause permanent damage with the way it is treating some of its neighbors.”

Union Jacks lowered, replaced with swastikas. This was the British government’s worst nightmare in the early years of the second world war. And in June 1940 it became reality in the Channel Islands, the only British territory to come under Nazi control. Today they celebrate their 75th annual “Liberation Day” since the German surrender. The islands just off France’s northern coast endured almost five years of Nazi rule; food shortages inspired Guernsey’s famous “potato-peel pie.” With a media blackout in place, local journalists set up an underground news service. Jersey’s residents daubed swastikas on the houses of anyone considered too cosy with the invaders. But the islands were not exactly a hotbed of anti-Nazi resistance. Just two local politicians spoke out against anti-Semitic orders. Jews were registered and their businesses liquidated. Most were deported. Three died in Auschwitz. Indeed the islands’ experience weakens post-war claims that Britain would have resisted Nazi occupation more strongly than other European states. (The Economist, 5/9/2020)

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MODERN FRANCE

A few months ago, a police officer, Noam Anouar, who infiltrated Islamist circles . . . stated that no-go zones in France are now foreign enclaves on French territory. “The gangs operating there,” he wrote, “have formed a parallel economy based on drug trafficking. They consider themselves at war with France and with Western civilization. They act in cooperation with Islamist organizations, and define acts of predation and rampage as raids against infidels.” He noted that reclaiming these areas today would be complicated, costly, and involve calling in the army.

For years, successive French governments have chosen a policy of “willful blindness”: they simply behave as if they do not see what is going on. They do not even try to find solutions. (Guy Milliere, Gatestone, 5/10/2020)

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72 Knesset Members back Netanyahu to form next governmentOnce approved by Rivlin, Likud leader has two weeks to form a government; move comes hours after Knesset passes amendment to Basic Law that allows for Netanyahu and Gantz to share premiership as part of recently signed coalition deal(Associated Press, 7 May 2020, Ynet)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally received the support of a majority of lawmakers to lead a new government on Thursday, paving the way for a controversial power-sharing deal with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz. Likud and Blue & White said that “representatives of the two parties submitted to President Reuven Rivlin the 72 signatures of Knesset members recommending Benjamin Netanyahu for the task of assembling an emergency national unity government.”

Once approved by Rivlin, Netanyahu will have two weeks to form a government. Of the 72 MKs who supported Netanyahu, 36 were members of Likud, 16 came from Blue & White, two were from Derech Eretz party, two from Labor, nine from Shas and seven from United Torah Judaism. Lawmakers from Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party did not add their support to back Netanyahu and was unclear whether they would join the new government, which is set to be sworn in on Wednesday of next week.
(https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ry57ljWq8)

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CBS CHEATS

During a pandemic, the media can play an invaluable role in providing accurate reporting so that people may take action based on the best available information.

Scare tactics not only gravely undermine that sacred duty but give credence to the dangerously wrong belief that the coronavirus (COVID-19) presents no real threat.

For a second time, that lesson appears lost on CBS News. Weeks ago, the network aired footage of a chaotic scene at an Italian hospital while alleging the video came from New York City.

Project Veritas has now learned that a CBS News crew filming in Grand Rapids, Michigan wasn’t satisfied with the orderly COVID-19 testing scene at Cherry Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Getting their desired footage involved taking medical professionals away from their duties and getting them in cars to give the illusion that the line of patients was longer. (Townhall)

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GREATEST DANGER TO CATHOLIC CHURCH

Life Site News reported on May 4: “Dr. Robert Moynihan, the editor-in-chief of the Catholic journal Inside the Vatican, revealed on April 23 that he once had a conversation with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) about the ‘greatest danger to the Church,’ and he recounts that Ratzinger said: ‘It is Freemasonry . . . Bishop Schneider states that Freemasons were crucial in the promotion of abortion, same-sex ‘marriage,’ and euthanasia in France . . .

“Then-Cardinal Ratzinger was already in the 1980s so concerned about the nature and work of Freemasonry that he worked out a statement for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose Prefect he then was, which repeated the Church’s long-standing ban on Freemasonry. That is to say, he re-stated that Catholics may not be members of Freemasonry. On November 26, 1983, Ratzinger signed a document that stated, ‘Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.’”

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POST-CORONA CHURCHES

Stephen Bullivant, whose book Mass Exodus studied Catholic attrition in Britain and America, offers three reasons why he believes churches will shrink after the pandemic.

First, he says, churchgoers (both lay and clergy) tend to be elderly and therefore more likely to die of coronavirus. Second, many churches rely on a steady influx of immigrants. With the world in lockdown, that supply has, at least temporarily, dried up. Third, churchgoing is a habit, and once that habit is broken, it is hard to take it up again. (“Risen Again,” Luke Coppen, The Spectator (UK), 4/11/2020)

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TO THE POINT

Deadly attacks on funeral and hospital in Afghanistan — A suicide bomber has attacked the funeral of a police commander in Afghanistan, killing at least 24 people and injuring 68. In a separate attack, gunmen disguised as police stormed a hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 16 people, including two newborn babies, at a maternity clinic run by the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders. (The Week, 5/18/2020)

The Trump administration ordered that an American federal pension fund, the Thrift Savings Plan, with around $600bn under management, stop investing in all Chinese companies. The White House says they pose national-security threats and might become subject to sanctions. There is a growing clamor among Republicans to devise punitive measures against China, which they accuse of covering-up facts about covid-19. (The Economist, 5/13/2020)

The number of confirmed cases of covid-19 surged past 4m globally, with more than 282,000 deaths. America, with a third of the world’s fatalities, is by far the worst-hit country. Yet even governments that appeared to have tamed the disease warned of its re-emergence. South Korea reported 35 new cases on Monday—its biggest increase in a month. A new cluster of infections in Shulan, in north-eastern China, forced the city into complete lockdown. And Germany’s infection rate accelerated. (The Economist, 5/11/2020)

Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, announced plans to relax England’s lockdown, encouraging people who cannot work from home to return to their jobs and permitting more outdoor activities from Wednesday. Shops and some schools may reopen in June. Mr. Johnson’s new “stay alert” slogan was criticized by some for being confusing. Harsher restrictions will remain in Scotland and Wales. (The Economist, 5/11/2020)

“The American media is using the virus crisis in order to attack Trump, but the Greek people will not tolerate such craven opportunism and dishonesty. Criticism of the government is almost non-existent, as the suddenly wise populace is united against the unseen menace.” (Taki, The Spectator, 4/11/2020).

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AFTERTHOUGHT

As if the coronavirus isn’t bad enough, debt could be the determining factor as regards the future of the US in particular and the West in general.

I got to thinking about this during the week when Nancy Pelosi proposed giving every household in the US $6,000. That’s a total of $3 trillion. To be added to a national debt of $23.3. What’s an extra $3 trillion between friends?

Isn’t anybody frightened of debt anymore? I know I avoid it like the plague (the coronavirus!).

Romans 13:8 tells us to “Owe no one anything.”

If you are in debt, you are not in the best position to weather whatever storms may come your way as a result of the virus (unemployment, reduced hours and wages, rising food prices, to name just three).

Why did you get into debt in the first place?

Let’s be honest here – greed is normally the answer. We want. We want things we can’t afford, but we believe the ads that tell us “you owe it to yourself.”

Or we want a bigger home (why?), or a second car (why?) or new furniture (again, why?).

Matthew 6:31-33: So don’t worry about these things, saying, “What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?” These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Stay out of debt. If you’re in debt, get out of it ASAP. You will be able to cope with the new reality, the “new normal,” a lot better if you’re not in debt.

A person does a cartwheel in Oxford Circus during rush hour as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, London, Britain, March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

We have less freedom today than we have had in over 400 years. And we’ve all consented to this loss of freedom.

Freedom of assembly and the freedom to worship have both suffered. Even the freedom to go out for a meal or a drink. Nor can we shake a friend’s hand or give a hug. Again, with our consent.

As one British paper put it: “It is no exaggeration to say these are the most extreme powers ever used against citizens in peace time Britain.”

It’s understandable. We want to live. We want to survive the coronavirus.

But will we ever get these freedoms back?

Most importantly, what will be the next crisis that makes us so quick to jettison our freedoms?

MR

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“A heart attack is occurring in the economy” (Sky News comment, 3/20)

This was a comment about the British economy, but it describes every country right now. So, let’s take a look at some of the economic consequences of coronavirus.

Argentina’s new government will today publish GDP figures for last year, with economists warning that the covid-19 pandemic could be about to send the country into a deep recession. GDP is forecast to have contracted by 2.1% in 2019. But what matters now is the dire situation to come. One former central banker predicts that the country’s economy could shrink by up to 4% in 2020. Though weighed down by high inflation and heavy debt, President Alberto Fernández’s government is implementing fiscal stimulus measures worth billions of dollars. Its treasury minister, Martín Guzmán, warns that the covid-19 crisis means that it is now impossible to say when, and how, Argentina can return to growth. That was Mr. Fernández’s primary goal when he took office just four months ago, an aim that looks harder by the day as infections mount in the country. (The Economist, 3/25/2020)

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For years Germany has run the tightest of fiscal ships, frustrating many in the euro zone and beyond. Then came covid-19. Today the Bundestag will approve a €156bn ($168bn) supplementary budget for 2020, under which Germany will issue new debt for the first time since 2013. The borrowing breaks Germany’s “black zero” balanced-budget policy and exploits an emergency rule in the constitutional “debt brake.” Yet it is just one part of Germany’s response. The government has expanded Kurzarbeit support (in which the state partly covers the lost wages of workers who have their hours cut), extended various loan guarantees and even earmarked funds for direct investment in companies. The package amounts to a potential €750bn, and more may follow. The scale of the response has surprised observers—but at European level less is happening. Germany, and the euro area’s other hawks, remain implacably opposed to debt mutualization. (The Economist, 3/25/2020)

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Today’s meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee should have been the first with Andrew Bailey in the chair. But the new governor found himself presiding over an emergency meeting last week, amid what he described as “borderline disorderly” market conditions. In common with other central banks, the Bank of England is aggressively easing monetary policy to react to a rapid economic slowdown due to the spread of covid-19. Despite interest-rate cuts, £200bn ($232bn) more quantitative easing (amounting to some 10% of GDP) and more direct support for private-sector lending, the bank is more worried about undershooting its inflation target than overshooting it. Today’s consumer-price statistics show inflation running at 1.7%, below the 2% target. More monetary easing is likely, but with interest rates already at 0.1%, an all-time low, fiscal policy will have to do most of the heavy lifting. (The Economist, 3/25/2020)

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Coronavirus lockdown measures implemented in the UK may trigger an economic downturn that could kill more people than the virus itself, a new study warns.

Philip Thomas, a professor of risk management at Bristol University, says that a fall in GDP of more than 6.4% could lead to a devastating recession in which “more years of life will be lost . . . than will be saved through beating the virus,” reports The Times. (The Week, 3/25/2020)

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The worst outbreak of Coronavirus in the Middle East, so far, is in Iran. Thousands have died and tens of thousands have been exposed to the virus. An overlooked developing crisis parallel to Iran’s is the situation of the country’s neighbors across the Persian Gulf.

Beyond the civilian element affecting Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE; tens of thousands of American military personnel are also stationed in these countries. Once facing the Iranian threat and ISIS, they are now involved in combating the invisible enemy: Covid-19. (Greg Roman, MEF, 3/20)

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This is an emergency, track everyone: If there were ever a time to set concerns about privacy aside, this is it. Giving public health authorities access to everyone’s location data gives them a better chance of tracking down people who have been in contact with confirmed cases – and helps ensure that those who are already sick stay in quarantine. Right now, governments need all the help they can get. Give them the data. Debates about the privacy implications can wait.

China is in this camp. So are other countries in Asia, like South Korea and Taiwan, that have had better success containing the epidemic – although it’s still too early to say whether access to mobile phone location data was the deciding factor. (Gzero, 3/25/2020)

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A SURPRISING LETTER FROM HOLLYWOOD

Dear Mr. President, @realDonaldTrump

I wanted to thank you for ur recent decorum, sincerity, & care towards us. You’re taking charge & leading in a manner needed & wanted for this country. I highly commend you for ur boundless energy & willingness to solve problems. Thank you!

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) March 24, 2020

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TO THE POINT

LAGOS — A jihadist group ambushed and killed around 70 Nigerian government troops in Borno state, in the north-east of the country. The guerrillas used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a vehicle full of soldiers; they also took several captive. The group they belong to split off from Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram in 2016, and now considers itself an Islamic State affiliate. (The Economist, 3/25/2020)

BERLIN – A court in eastern Germany convicted eight far-right extremists who were accused of planning to violently overthrow the state. The regional court in Dresden on Tuesday convicted one of the men on a charge of forming a “terrorist organization” and the other seven of being members of the group, called Revolution Chemnitz. Five of the man were also found guilty of a serious breach, while one was convicted of bodily harm. The court sentenced the defendants to prison terms that ranged from 27 months to 5 ½ years. (Lansing State Journal, 3/25/2020)

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged leaders of the world’s 20 major industrialized nations on Tuesday to adopt a “wartime” plan including a stimulus package “in the trillions of dollars” for businesses, workers and households in developing countries trying to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. He said in a letter to the Group of 20 leaders that they account for 85% of the world’s gross domestic product and have “a direct interest and critical role to play in helping developing countries cope with the crisis.” (Lansing State Journal, 3/25/2020)

LONDON – Prince Charles has coronavirus. Prince Charles, 71, is displaying mild symptoms “but otherwise remains in good health,” a spokesman said, adding that the Duchess of Cornwall, 72, has been tested but does not have the virus. Charles and Camilla are now self-isolating at Balmoral. Buckingham Palace said the Queen last saw her son, the heir to the throne, on 12 March, but was “in good health.” The palace added that the Duke of Edinburgh was not present at that meeting, and that the Queen was now “following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare.”
A Clarence House statement read: “In accordance with government and medical advice, the prince and the duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland. “The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire, where they met the criteria required for testing. “It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.”

Germany is the only country in Europe to have currently rejected China’s offer of support in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. According to China’s President Xi Jinping, he informed Chancellor Angela Merkel that the People’s Republic of China “is willing to provide help within our capabilities,” if Germany “is in need.” Over the past few days, Beijing has sent aid supplies and – in some cases – teams of doctors to provide practical on-site assistance to several European countries including Italy, Spain and France. Berlin has ignored the offer of support, even though there is, for example, a glaring shortage of respiratory protection masks in Germany. More than 80 percent of Germany’s registered doctors are complaining that they cannot procure sufficient protective clothing. Serious accusations for failing to take preventive measures are being raised against the German government, which has been emphasizing that it is “well prepared.” Leading German media are denouncing China’s aid as a “propaganda campaign” and accuse the country of being “the cause of the pandemic.” The only thing missing is the use of Trump’s label of a “Chinese virus.” (German Foreign Policy, 3/24/2020)

A growing number of businesses and individuals worldwide have stopped using banknotes in fear that physical currency, handled by tens of thousands of people over their useful life, could be a vector for the spreading coronavirus. Public officials and health experts have said that the risk of transferring the virus person-to-person through the use of banknotes is small. But that has not stopped businesses in the US from refusing to accept currency and some countries from urging their citizens to stop using banknotes altogether. (Times of Israel, 3/20/2020)

Personnel from Chesed Shel Emes Emergency Services and Recovery Unit gather near the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. Robert Bowers, the suspect in the mass shooting at the synagogue, expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents made public Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The attack on a synagogue on the Sabbath of October 27th was the worst anti-semitic incident in American history. Similar incidents have taken place throughout history in many countries.

When I was a child growing up in England, I remember going on a school field trip to the city of York. At the time, I must have been 9 or 10 years of age.

The old Roman city of York is one of the most interesting cities in England. It was here that Constantine was proclaimed Emperor in 306 AD. Constantine later converted to Catholicism, turning away from worship of the pagan gods. The writer, James Carroll, a former Catholic priest, traced anti-Semitism back to Constantine in his book “Constantine’s Sword.” It was all quite simple – the Jews killed Christ, so they should be persecuted forever. This has been the teaching of the church down through the centuries.

Four years after William the Conqueror successfully invaded England in 1066, he invited Jews from France to come over. He believed that their commercial skills and capital would help develop the English economy. The Jews were not allowed to purchase land (most English people could not, either), but they were allowed to practice medicine and money-lending, the latter breeding resentment against the Jews.

In 1189, following a rumor that the newly crowned King Richard I had ordered a massacre of Jews, mobs in a number of cities across the country attacked and killed Jews. The worst incident was in the city of York the following year, just before the Passover.

“A significant loss of life occurred at York on the night of March 16 (Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before Passover) and 17 March 1190. As crusaders prepared to leave on the Third Crusade, religious fervor resulted in several anti-Jewish violences. Josce, the leader of the Jews in York, asked the warden of York Castle to receive them with their wives and children, and they were accepted into Clifford’s Tower. However, the tower was besieged by the mob of crusaders, demanding that the Jews convert to Christianity and be baptized. Trapped in the castle, the Jews were advised by their religious leader, Rabbi Yomtov of Joigney, to kill themselves rather than convert; Josce began by slaying his wife Anna and his two children, and then was killed by Yomtov. The father of each family killed his wife and children, before Yomtov and Josce set fire to the wooden keep, killing themselves. The handful of Jews who did not kill themselves died in the fire, or were murdered by rioters.” (Wikipedia: History of the Jews in England 1066-1290).

Clearly, upon hearing a rumor, the crowds were ready to turn against the Jews. It should be realized that many of those in the crowd would likely have owed money to the Jewish money-lenders and this was an opportunity to cancel the debts. Debts to Jewish money-lenders continued to be an issue and not just in England.

“As early as 1198, Pope Innocent III had written to all Christian princes, including Richard of England, calling upon them to compel the remission of all usury demanded by Jews from Christians. This would render the Jewish community’s very existence impossible.”

“On 15 July 1205, the pope laid down the principle that Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude because they had crucified Jesus.I n England the secular power soon followed the initiative of the Church. John, having become indebted to the Jewish community while in Ireland, at first treated Jews with a show of forbearance. He confirmed the charter of Rabbi Josce and his sons, and made it apply to all the Jews of England; he wrote a sharp remonstrance to the mayor of London against the attacks that were continually being made upon the Jews of that city, alone of all the cities of England. He reappointed one Jacob archpriest of all the English Jews (12 July,1199).

OTHER REASONS FOR ANTI-SEMITISM

In 1492 Queen Isabella of Spain desired to make her country completely Catholic. This followed the expulsion of the Muslims who had dominated the country for centuries. The new law meant that Jews had to convert, emigrate or be burned to death. Many fled to Poland, which was then the most liberal country in Europe.

During a tour of Krakow some years ago, we were able to see a number of synagogues in the old Jewish Quarter of the medieval city. Our tour guide related the persecution of Jews in Spain and how many moved to Krakow. Two years later, the local people turned against them. I asked our Polish guide why. His response was interesting. “The Jews were different. They had different customs. They went to church on a different day….” Sabbath observance has always made religious Jews more noticeable wherever they have settled.

Polish persecution of Jews had started prior to the arrival of the Spanish Jews. It continued on and off into modern times, with a pogrom immediately after the defeat of the Nazis and the arrival of the Soviets in 1945.

This article only touches the surface where anti-semitism is concerned. The incidents I related from England are what I learned as a child; I mention Krakow as my visit there was a great learning experience.

Auschwitz is close to Krakow. A visit there was truly traumatic for me personally. It was bad enough standing in the gas chambers and looking up at the holes in the ceiling that enabled Zykon B to be dropped down amongst those taking a “shower.” I felt like throwing up when I saw the “accommodations” for inmates – bunk-beds three levels high – people would fight to get the top bunk, so that they would not get “showered on” during the night when those above had to relieve themselves. (Inmates had permanent diarrhoea because the scarce food was so bad.) But, what made me “lose it” was the exhibit behind a glass screen, of the hair of little girls taken (after being gassed) from Jewish children and then used to make wigs and other things. All I could think of was our little girls, our grandchildren when they were 3 or 4. I had to leave the room. I had planned on giving a sermon on anti-semitism when I returned to Michigan, but I could not bring myself to give it. I knew I could not get through the sermon without, once again, losing it.

On another occasion, following a visit to Anne Frank’s House, I wanted to speak on it but couldn’t. When I looked out the back window of the house at the backyard below, it reminded me so much of my grandparents’ home. If it could happen here, it might have happened in England; or anywhere else, for that matter. We are naïve if we think it can never happen here.

As if the Holocaust wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of millions of people around the world have learned nothing from it. They still hate Jews. They still blame Jewish bankers when they can’t repay a loan. Many still think they deserve what they get because they killed Christ when the scriptures make it clear that every single one of us killed Christ. Note I John 2:2: “And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.” (Good News Translation). The Contemporary English Version translates the verse this way: “Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world’s people.” He had to die so that each of us, individually, may receive eternal life.

Jesus Christ Himself was a Jew; so was the Apostle John who wrote those words.

MODERN ANTI-SEMITISM

Complicating the issue of anti-Semitism today is the existence of the modern state of Israel, a nation that came into being exactly 70 years ago. The Palestinians lost their land and have hated Israel ever since. Many Muslims also hate Israel in sympathy with the Palestinians.

This hatred of Israel has infected others, partly because of television newsreels showing the suffering of the Palestinian people. The British Labor Party, under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, has a bad record of anti-Semitism. Fifty years ago, there were fifty Jewish members of parliament, 48 of whom were members of the Labor Party. Clearly, attitudes have changed.

Modern Israel is, without a doubt, the most successful country in the Middle East. It is the only western-style democracy. This Jewish country allows freedom of religion in a region where non-Muslims are suffering from great persecution. The nation can teach its neighbors lots of lessons, about economic development, freedom and democracy. I had the privilege of being able to spend a summer in the country in 1973 and was greatly impressed at the development that had taken place in just 25 years. I would love to go back and see how much further the country has progressed, in spite of wars and internal conflict.

People should remember what God said to Abraham thousands of years ago.

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

No country benefits from anti-Semitism.

The attack on a synagogue last week was the work of one man, an ignorant, hate-filled individual who likely spent too much time looking at websites that blame Jews for everything. (The internet is also a modern contributor to anti-Semitism.)

Let’s hope and pray it remains an isolated incident in American history.

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US MID-TERMS

The Wall St Journal on Wednesday highlighted the growing divergence amongst American voters on just about every issue. The divide, the paper showed, is largely between “white women with college degrees and white men without.” They “are on rapidly diverging tracks.”

In a report on BBC World News America, polls showed the divide was between “big cities and suburbs” and those living in rural areas, which includes small-town America.

Reports on the election are usually quite superficial. Not realized is that the white blue-collar workers are the primary producers of the nation’s wealth; the people with college degrees are in non-productive jobs.

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CESAR CHAVEZ REMEMBERED

Left-wing protestors across the country are chanting “Yes, we can” in opposition to the president’s stance on illegal immigration.

But few, if any, remember who first used this expression.

Tucker Carlson showed a few days ago that it was Cesar Chavez, the (Hispanic) United Farm Workers Union president who was very left-wing and, yes, against illegal immigration.

“Yes, we can SEAL THE BORDERS,” was the original chant.

Mr. Chavez, concerned for the members of his union, realized that illegals would only force down wages, making things harder for those at the lower end of the income spectrum. The last thing he wanted was more Mexicans in the country.

It’s ironic that the Democrats have ended up supporting illegals. It was not always thus. When the boat people started arriving from Vietnam 40 years ago, California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown did not want them in his state, which was already finding it difficult to cope with poverty and unemployment. Today, Jerry Brown encourages more immigration.

Why the change?

Because it’s now known that 90% of illegals vote for the Democrats once they become registered voters.

It’s all about power!

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The Caravan to Nowhere – The march from Honduras echoes the 1980 Mariel boatlift, by The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 22, 2018, 7:27 p.m. ET

These columns favor generous immigration and asylum for refugees. But when migration becomes a political weapon to foment border chaos, leaders have no choice other than to step in and protect national security. Exhibit A are the 4,000 or so Central Americans moving on foot through Mexico to the U.S.

Waves of humanity marching in lock step don’t materialize spontaneously and neither has this “caravan.” This march is organized and not necessarily for the benefit of the migrants. Mr. Trump has good reason to turn it back.

One of the best books I’ve read recently was “Sword and Scimitar” by Raymond Ibrahim. It’s a new book that looks at the history of the 1,400-year-old struggle between Islam and the West, which continues to this day.

(Suggestion: do what I did. I requested the local library buy a copy. That way, dozens of people may wake up to what is happening!)

Having discussed the doctrine of jihad and its motivations at some length (see Introduction) here it is necessary to compare and contrast the motivations behind the crusades. Shocking as it may seem, love – not of the modern, sentimental variety, but a medieval, muscular one, characterized by Christian altruism, agape – was the primary driving force behind the crusade. As foremost crusade historian Jonathan Riley-Smith puts it, the crusaders, moved by love of God and their neighbor, renouncing wives, children, and earthly possessions, and adopting temporary poverty and chastity, were described as going into a voluntary exile.

Despite popular depictions of crusaders as prototypical Europeans imperialists cynically exploiting faith, recent scholarship has proven the opposite, that every crusader “risked his life, social status, and all his possessions when he took the cross.” Nor was it “those with the least to lose who took up the cross, but rather those with the most.” Great lords of vast estates – not dispossessed “second sons,” as once believed – parted with their wealth and possessions upon taking the cross.”

“It was a miraculous sight,” wrote one contemporary. “Everyone bought high and sold low; whatever could be used on the journey was expensive, since they were in a hurry; they sold cheaply whatever items of value they had piled up; what neither prison nor torture could have wrung from them just a short time before they now sold for a few paltry coins.” But it was worth it all for the “message was clear,” writes Thomas Madden: “Christ was crucified again in the persecution of his faithful and the defilement of his sanctuaries.” Both needed rescuing; both offered an opportunity to fulfill one of Christ’s two greatest commandments: “Love God with all your heart” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

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GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

The central banks of the UK and Australia have both raised red flags about the rapid expansion of so-called leveraged loans and associated products that have invited comparisons to the toxic debt vehicles that triggered the global financial crisis.

In documents published just days apart, both the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of England have expressed clear concern at the growth in leveraged loans, which have doubled in issuance since the GFC and now stand at over $US1 trillion ($1.4 trillion).

The leveraged loans have invited comparisons to the toxic conditions that helped trigger the GFC. (The Age, AUSTRALIA, Paul Colgan, 19th October)

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LOS ANGELES

“The Los Angeles regional food bank distributed 300,000 meals a month, but that, says its director, Michael Flood, is only a fraction of what the hungry 1.4 million people in the county need. The bank resembles the vast warehouse operation of a supermarket chain, with apartment-sized refrigerators and fork-lift trucks processing millions of pounds of groceries. Every hour, a dozen or so of the 650 soup kitchens in the city arrive to collect sandwiches for the homeless (who cannot cook anything on the streets) or groceries for families.” (“Amid plenty, want; The Economist, October 27th.) “…the state with the largest share of people in poverty is California. As the most populous state, it also has by far the largest number of poor people, 7.4 million.” (And the Governor, Jerry Brown, is in favor of open borders.)

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PERVERSE THINKING

“Immerse yourself in the pro-immigration literature of Democratic Party thinkers, and you will notice a curious pattern of argument: High levels of immigration have awakened the racism and bigotry that have fueled the rise of right-wing populism, but it is nevertheless best to press forward with the policies that have ostensibly produced this fearsome reaction. Why? Because slowing the pace of immigration would be a callow surrender to bigotry. But also because, in the fullness of time, a unified coalition of college-educated white liberals, African Americans, and working class immigrants and their descendants will vanquish the aging rump of reactionary whites.” (“The next populist revolution,” by Reihan Salam, The Atlantic Monthly, September 2018).